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Home > Topics > How to save money at Christmas
How to save money at Christmas
Christmas can be an expensive time of year - there's lots of people to buy presents for, food, travelling... the list goes on. It's easy to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Everyone can do with keeping costs down, so here's some advice to help you out.
Shop smartly for groceries: Lower priced stores like Aldi can be a lot cheaper than mainstream supermarkets. Not only can you easily cut your shopping bill to a fraction of the price you'd pay elsewhere, but there's also an amazing selection of Christmas sweets and goodies you won't find anywhere else.
Let guests bring food to Christmas functions: Invite guests to bring along a plate of food when they come to a Christmas function you organise. It'll keep your costs and catering down.
Buy wrapping paper and ribbon in bulk: Buying long bulk rolls of wrapping paper and ribbon will save you heaps if you've got lots of presents to wrap.
Outdoor Christmas lighting: It looks beautiful but lots of outdoor lighting can add hundreds of dollars to your Christmas electricity bill. If you choose to save in this department, minimise the time you keep lights on each day and the number of days for which you run them.
Choose presents on a budget: Buying brand-name products can quickly increase your Christmas present shopping bill. Small, lower-priced products can make just as nice presents - it's all about choosing a present that's unique, and has a special meaning for the person.
Presents for a family get-together: If you're exchanging presents at a family get-together, you could either try setting a limit on the maximum price everyone should spend on each present, or instead of every person buying a present for everyone else, have each person attending buy a present for only one other person, and allocate who buys a present for whom before the event.
Combined presents: Several people can put in money to buy a present. It doesn’t mean that you'll need to buy an overly expensive present as a result - still keep it small -just spread the cost wider.
Car pool to events: If you're going away over Christmas to events, car pool and share the petrol bill.
Negotiate on price for presents: It can take some practice and a bit of getting used to, but there's no reason why you can't negotiate on price when buying something. Some larger retailers are particularly flexible when it comes to cutting prices - and not just because you've found a cheaper item elsewhere - just because they know that giving you discounts if you ask for them makes customers happy and keeps them coming back time and time again.
